Swapan Dasgupta writes in The Telegraph, Calcutta, that by taking its cue from IT honchos and by directing its ads at “non-voting classes”, the Congress in Karnataka appears to have lost sight of the fact that while IT is economically important, it is electorally a big zero:

“For the Congress the stakes are very high. A win in Karnataka will rejuvenate a tired Manmohan Singh government in Delhi. It is calculated to galvanize Congress activists in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi which vote in December. There is even a suggestion that a good Karnataka result could resuscitate the Indo-US nuclear deal and trigger an early general election.

“For the BJP, Karnataka is an important test of its national credentials. It has sought to blend anti-incumbency against the Centre with an indictment of 50 years of Congress rule in Karnataka…. If the BJP performs well in Karnataka and forms a government, it will reinforce the importance of strong regional leaders in the party. As the epicentre of contrariness, Karnataka may contribute immeasurably to the transformation of the BJP from being a Delhi-controlled party to a more federal outfit.”

One comment

I am wearied by talk about Delhi, Singh, BJP’s pretensions to nationalism. Let us talk about Kannada and Karnataka. I don’t give one damn if all the political parties and their false rhetoric were to disappear in a minute. Sonia Gandhi or Rajnath Singh cannot decide what is good for us. Furthermore, what is seemingly good for the country is not necessarily good for Karnataka.